RESEARCH ARTICLE Intensive care staff, the do

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground The effectiveness of the donation request is generally mea-sured by consent rates [1-11]. Donation rates also seem to be the primary interest in research about attitudes of in-tensive care unit staff (ICU staff) [12]. However, donation rates are determined by relatives. The decision to donate or not may be extremely difficult. Publications addressing decision stability report substantial dissatisfaction, espe-cially with donation refusal [13-16] and even traumatic memories regarding the donation request [4,17,18]. This research outcome does not seem to influence daily prac-tice of ICU staff [19]. However, it does seem important, because preventing regret in cases of refusal can primarily lead to no or less harm for relatives and consecutively the possibility of more organs. We carried out our research in the context of the Dutc